Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I have different qualities and no problem with that. Of course, my style of football is not like Messi's or Neymar's.
When you want to be a good player in next years worldcup you wanna be in good shape to appear strong at the tournament.
You cannot plan for the Champions League: the competitors are always overwhelming. It is a big new challenge every year.
As a player, you never want a penalty shoot-out, because it is a lottery to some extent. You'd rather win in 90 minutes.
For players, during our active career, it is always difficult to talk about coaches - whether it is former or a current.
Football is the best team sport in the world, and it is good to hear that more and more kids are playing football in India.
I try to be available for the fans, but sometimes when I'm with my family, wife, and friends, I try to protect my private life.
I have spent much of my youth on artificial pitches. The body can feel a little heavier, but the ball is there quicker and cleaner.
When we're up 1-0 after 88 minutes, I don't sprint to the sidelines to take a throw-in - I expect that I and my team will be smart.
Whenever Germany lose or play badly, there are 1,000 reasons. And no matter how many questions there are, we will never make everyone happy.
There's no club out there that is really a step up when you play for Bayern Munich. At most, you can join a club that acts at the same level.
I know that a lot of German clubs are unhappy with the Premier League clubs' spending, but I think it is something good for all clubs in the end.
When I am tired, it is easy to say I need a backup - and if that only happens every three months, it's not ideal and also difficult for Mr. Backup.
I try to help the team, and I know what my qualities are, how I can use it to be successful at the highest level. That does not always look so elegant.
You grow year after year with responsibility, and for me, it's not important who has the armband but that everyone on the pitch gives the right signals.
In the end, we should not forget that playing football is our job. So people should accept that wages will always play a role in a player's decision-making.
I will always try to stay on the right path, listen only to my coaches and my inner voice. If there is good advice from journalists, I will take that as well.
Germany are a tournament team. I don't know why that is, perhaps the mentality. We always look forward to tournaments. We also believe we can always perform well.
I didn't have one single hero. Many footballers I looked up to and said, 'Wow, I want to be like them,' but be like them not just as a person but also for their skills.
I like playing Italian teams. To me, they are the fairest sportsmen of them all. I don't agree with the Italy stereotypes - I trust in what I have experienced and witnessed.
When a club has €200m left on its transfer budget in the final days of the transfer period, why shouldn't they make a higher bid when their initial €70m bid has been rejected?
I personally feel that, at Bayern, the sporting aspect, the feeling with the fans in Munich and the appreciation from the fans, is unique here. Those are the most important aspects for me.
Football is a game with tight results in which you don't need to be the dominant team; if you're a bit lucky and make the right decision at the right time, then you can be as successful as well.
The most important thing in Guardiola's theory is to play football, and this always stays the same. The basic idea is always the same, but different opponents offer different space which you can use to play in.
When our positioning and ball game and passing is not that good, then my game is struggling as well. I can score from set pieces and so on, but I have to be involved in the combinations, make my runs without the ball, go deep.
The players who tend to make the difference are often great dribblers. Some are very fast; others have a repertoire of moves and feints. These players need to have great technique in order to be good dribblers. But I'm not a good dribbler.
Sometimes a little kid will come up to me and ask me to show him some tricks. I always have to say: 'I can't do any tricks.' They want to see some sort of magic: keepie-uppies, around-the-worlds, that sort of thing. It's not really my strength.
You have to adapt and find your niche, in terms of the type of player you can become, both on and off the pitch. I always knew I'd have no chance against a 1.90m, 90kg defender in a duel, so the key is to avoid these situations altogether. You have to pick your space and time.
I know that I make technical mistakes from time to time. It's one of the aspects of my game that I've been working on for years. I think I've managed to reduce the number of those technical mistakes to a minimum, but occasionally, they happen. On the other hand, I do have moments of technical brilliance.